"He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness…
…Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me."
Psalms 23:3-4
Aww, thanks for reviewing. I have most of this planned out, so I just have to write it, which shouldn't take too long.
For J16 and Insomniac Cat, my first reviewers. What a pair of sweeties.
-N
~
The floor creaked again, causing Rika to growl involuntarily through gritted teeth. She knew she'd have to face her mother sooner or later, but with her with Rika, the latter of the two would be preferred more often than not. The night's events hadn't been completely unbearable; some good came out of it. She glanced towards the microwave oven to check the time. A little after 5.
Must have been with Ryo for hours… Not tired, and I pretty much have the choice between Maury or some crappy Reality TV reruns. So not going to happen.
The redheaded ex-Tamer walked to
her room, which was on the opposite end of the house of her mother's room, so
she didn't have to walk to silently.
She'd lent Ryo her box, he seemed interested with them, and he didn't
try to pry to find out why she'd been given them. Who knows, might come in handy sometime.
Her thoughts turned to her
other friends, curious to what happened after she left. They all seemed so hurt…
…But Ryo's right. They won't be mad at me. He is right, isn't he?
She sat down on her bed with her hands on her lap for a few moments, trying to convince herself Ryo was right. She glanced around the room for something to occupy herself. She saw a framed sketch of Renamon and smiled, proud of her work. She remembered trying to get Renamon to sit still, her pose 'just right'. She remembered the thought that she played on loop in her mind: Thisdoesn'tmakemelikemymother, thistakesrealtalent, thisdoesn'tmakemelikeher… She smiled at her work again; everything about it was perfect. It had taken her hours, but it was perfect.
She walked to her desk, and moving the mouse a
little, causing the computer to jump to life.
*Unbreakable* has signed on.
*Unbreakable* writes: Hey Jeri..
Lion's Heart writes: Rika! Are you okay? We were worried about you!
*Unbreakable* writes: Yeah. What about you?
Lion's Heart writes: Um, fine, I guess. Your mom really knows how to lay a guilt trip.
*Unbreakable* writes: I'm really sorry, If I'd known she would do that, I would have made sure she wasn't home.
Lion's Heart writes: It's not your fault, don't worry about it.
*Unbreakable* writes: You're not mad at me?
Lion's Heart writes: Of course not! Takato and Henry aren't either. We were just worried after you left, we couldn't find you.
Rika smiled.
Guess he was right.
They chatted for about a half hour, and found out that after she left, nothing had happened, they went straight after her, but she ran faster than all of them.
Lion's Heart writes: You really have to show me how to run like you sometime! lol
*Unbreakable* writes: Will do! But I should get some sleep, it's really late. See ya.
Lion's Heart writes: Me too. Good night
*Unbreakable* writes: Same to you
Lion's Heart has signed off.
*Unbreakable* has signed off.
In the dream, Rika was helpless. She'd been haunted by the dream every few nights for about a month after the defeat of the D-Reaper. The D-Reaper had killed thousands, and wasn't finished. It had already leveled half of the city, and would continue with it, right after it dealt with her and the other Tamers.
-But that doesn't matter now, now we just have to make sure it doesn't happen again-
"Get back!" Ryo snarled.
It was an effort of pure will to move back, but Sakuyamon managed to find the strength. The fight wasn't going well, she'd only been hit twice, but her left shoulder hurt like crazy and she was having trouble moving that arm. Her concerns were on Ryo; they'd never tried this before. She watched as her power floated over to Justimon, surrounded him, then went to his blade. It immediately began to glow brighter, the hypnotic raw energy of it leaving her helpless enough to just stare. It began to grow, to extend-
-BOOM! And the blade-no, Justimon exploded, the whispered grunt of pain escaping Ryo's mouth deafening to Rika even over the shrill cries of battle around her.
-And she was being pushed away, MegaGargomon franticly crying out to her, asking if she was all right.
-And the D-Reaper looked at her, and she knew. She knew that it was going to kill her, but it was going to make it slow, painful. It would take everything from her, her friends and family, and then it would take her life.
"I'm fine." Sakuyamon reassured her friend, trying to hide the pain.
MegaGargomon nodded, and once he got her to the safest distance he could, he turned back to fight. He began warding off the D-Reaper's agents, Henry's martial arts training paying off once again. She looked for a sign of Justimon, but saw nothing. Ryo was dead, and she was to blame.
…My fault. My responsibility.
An agent came at Henry from behind. He seemed to sense it, and leaned forward, so it would pass over him, but-
-But one came straight down, passing into him, passing through him.
"Henry!" Rika shrieked. The D-Reaper looked at her again, and she felt a rush of animal hatred. She didn't care that it had been programmed for this; she hated it with everything inside of her. Hated it more than anything she'd ever hated. The D-Reaper was growing, even faster than before. It towered over her, and she turned to flee.
She knew they were dead. Ryo, Henry, Takato, even Jeri. She was alone. The area grew darker, the growing D-Reaper blocking out much of the light with its hulking form. She looked back, and saw a claw slicing down. She heard the hissing of the blade cutting through the air, and then cutting through her. Her life was being drained away: no escape, no way to stop it, no-
-No-
"No!" Rika screamed as she shot up from her sleep,
the word still etched in the form of her lips.
It doesn't mean anything,
it was just a dream.
"Just a dream." Rika whispered to herself. "That's all."
She sounded confident
enough. But right then, her only wish
was that she could convince herself.
~
Okay, that didn't go as I'd planned, and was a lot shorter, but I wanted to cut
it off there 'cause I like that last line.
Review and I'll try to upload the next one tonight or tomorrow, thanks!
-N